{"id":15262,"date":"2021-07-23T11:46:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T09:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kanaga-at.com\/info-viaggi\/republic-of-the-congo\/brazzaville-and-pointe-noire\/"},"modified":"2022-09-12T15:53:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T13:53:20","slug":"brazzaville-and-pointe-noire","status":"publish","type":"info_viaggi","link":"https:\/\/www.kanaga-at.com\/en\/trip-info\/republic-of-the-congo\/brazzaville-and-pointe-noire\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazzaville and Pointe Noire"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

It is difficult to describe a city like Brazzaville, if not for symbolic places, monuments or common buildings that are simple ballistic points of reference in a city where the neighbourhoods become small universes, whose true protagonists are the inhabitants, with their savoir vivre that creates <\/b>‘<\/span>ambiance<\/i>‘, the quintessence of vibrant contemporary popular cultures, such as that of the SAPE, a true identity life philosophy of the urbanised Bakongo people.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

Brazzaville, the <\/b>capital<\/strong> mirrored in the Stanley Pool<\/b>, whose reflection mingles with that of the buildings in Kinshasa, on the other side of the Congo River bank, <\/b>but where it is the latter that is defined with detachment, the capital of Congo ‘<\/span>en face<\/i>‘.<\/p>\r\n

Brazzaville is the city of the futuristic Corniche Bridge <\/b>that has characterised its skyline for a <\/i>few years now, or of the Nabemba tower <\/b>that stands 106 metres tall on a horizontally developed urban plan; it is the city of Central Africa’s oldest cathedral, the 19th-century Sacre-Coeur<\/b>, or of the geometric Saint-Anne-du-Congo Basilica<\/b>, a modernist architectural prototype on African soil; it is the city where the remains of its founder Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza<\/b>, who laid the foundation stone after signing an agreement with the local king Makoko, are preserved in a Memorial<\/b>, in homage to a character who was experienced more as a liberator than a coloniser.<\/p>\r\n

But Brazzaville is above all the city of vibrant atmospheres<\/b>, of the chaotic Total market in Bacongo<\/b>, or the night market of Dragage in Talangai<\/b>, with its fish and game stalls; it is the capital of a long Central African artistic tradition, of historic schools of contemporary painting and sculpture, still active today in the main ateliers of the Poto-Poto and Moungali neighbourhoods<\/b>, the beating hearts of the city’s social, cultural and economic life, which quiver with commerce during the day and explode with nightlife at sunset.<\/p>\r\n

Bars and ngandas<\/i><\/b>, enlivened by the sound of rumba<\/b>, backed by cola nuts and rivers of beer, are also the focus of the evenings in Bacongo<\/b>, the city’s identity soul, the historic headquarters where the colourful urban culture of SAPE <\/b>was born in the <\/span>1960s, or perhaps earlier, ‘<\/span>Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Ambianceurs et Personnes El\u00e9gantes’, a <\/b>true philosophy of life, all Congolese, of knowing how to live and how to dress, to distinguish oneself in elegance and behaviour, through a theatricality and exhibitionism that accompany the existence of the ‘<\/span>sapologists’. <\/b>The apotheosis of this lifestyle are the eccentric fashion shows <\/b>that are staged every Sunday afternoon on <\/span>Avenue Matsua<\/b>, amidst the boutiques of refined and extravagant clothes, the bouvettes <\/i>and a crowd in curious admiration.<\/p>\r\n

If the capital is connected to the north-west by a single major asphalted artery, and to the north along the border with the DRC, by the river ‘<\/span>highway’, the south is nowadays traversed by a new asphalted road, but until a few years ago, due to a lack of decent alternatives, the only means of transport for goods and passengers was the CFCO train<\/b>, the historic railway linking Brazzaville to Pointe Noire<\/b>, the country’s second city and main commercial port on the Atlantic.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Pointe-Noire<\/b>‘s strategic position was immediately noticed by the first Portuguese navigators at the end of the 15th century, who christened it ‘<\/span>Punta Negra’ for its spur of dark rocks. But Bantu peoples had inhabited the region since time immemorial, grouped under the aegis of the local Kingdom of Ma-Loango<\/b>, a rib of the powerful Kingdom of Kongo.<\/p>\r\n

Today, the economic capital of the country, <\/b>it is a populous city, whose existence revolves around the port, but which retains the atmosphere and dimension of a pleasant holiday resort<\/b>, with its wild beaches <\/b>and spectacular seascapes<\/b>, enriched by ancient traces of a past that at the time was a different unhappy trade, that of slaves, managed by the ancient local kingdom with European representatives, until the actual French colonisation.<\/p>\r\n

If the train crossing<\/b>, which ploughs through the green lands and natural scenery of the southern Congo, still retains the dimension of a pioneer’s adventure lasting about 15 hours for a 450 km journey <\/b>(the train is however equipped with all comforts, with couchettes and a restaurant car), once you arrive at your destination, the reality is that of a seaside destination that offers an infinity of tourist accommodations, suitable for all needs<\/b>, and much in demand by holidaymakers arriving for the weekend in search of fun, relaxation, some luxury, but also genuine eco-tourist contact with Atlantic nature.<\/p>\r\n

Undoubtedly not to be missed are the Ma-Loango Historical Museum <\/b>and the nearby ‘<\/span>slave route’, a <\/b>symbolic path of remembrance, which deportees had to take to be embarked on ships at anchor; the wild surroundings of Pointe Indienne<\/b>, between palm-fringed beaches and mangrove lagoons, where lute turtles <\/b>come to lay their eggs; the spectacular laterite gorges of Diosso<\/b>.<\/p>\r\n

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